Freedom catcher Payton Besecker’s hard-hit RBI double in the fifth inning broke a 3-3 tie with Easton on March 28 when the Patriots topped the Red Rovers, 7-3, at Freedom.

“We always tell our girls to be patient because we knew that (Easton pitcher) Rinda didn’t have a lot behind her, but we know she’s effective, and we were prepared for her rise ball,” said Freedom coach Michele Laubach, “so we knew late in the innings that if we were patient, once we got the ball in play, that’s what happens.”

Besecker then scored on a wild pitch to put the Pates ahead, 5-3.

“Wild pitch after wild pitch, I was just moving around as much as I could,” Besecker said. “I just put my head down running.”

Freedom extended its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning on Siara Gonzalez’s 2-out RBI triple to left field, followed by Namelia Duro’s RBI single over the shortstop’s head.

Easton was on the board first with Anna Jones’ home run in the second inning, but Maia D’Amico evened the score with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the second.

Freedom scored two more runs on Aly Laubach’s RBI double to left field and Gonzalez’s RBI single.

The score was evened again on Mary Munjone’s 2-run homer for Easton in the fifth inning.

Faith Zimmerman followed with a line drive up the middle, but Kaede Walsh’s fly ball to left center was caught in the midst of a Landry Guman-Brooke Rummel collision in the outfield.

“We both were running towards the fence,” said Guman, “and there’s a little bit of wind so it hung up there for awhile. We honestly thought it was going out, and then I was looking at the fence, and I was like, this ball is staying in. So then I was kind of calling it, but I could feel Brooke was still there, and honestly, I’m glad Brooke was there because it popped out of my glove, and she hit it back in with hers, and I caught it, so I’m really thankful she was there.”

Duro was the winning pitcher with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk.

“Nams is doing a great job keeping her pitch count down, which helps us,” Coach Laubach said.

Audrey Rinda was the losing pitcher with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Freedom’s next home game is scheduled for April 4 when they will take on Northampton.